Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1372612
24 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2021 abling us to take on challenging designs, access new markets, and develop customers who will continue to source their electronics domesti- cally. e United States will never take back the bulk of the work that has moved to Asia over the past 20–30 years; that ship has sailed. Do- mestic manufacturers must look and plan for the future. e work that will remain in the U.S. will be challenging as OEMs strive to build the most advanced electronics systems domestically. Our plan is to pivot, build part- nerships, and offer the most advanced design, layout, engineering, and manufacturing solu- tions to ensure the company is sustainable for the next 50 years. Johnson: And if you take something and treat it as an obvious given, and you don't include it in your plans and your analysis for operational ex- cellence, you miss it. Brassard: ere is little room for complacency for domestic electronics manufacturers. e United States is out-classed by some offshore manufacturers in virtually every performance metric that matters. e viability of low-cost supply chains has been proven over the last three decades as U.S. industries have all but collapsed. e aggressive measures employed in certain overseas locations to gain technolog- ical advantage is causing some OEMs to con- template security concerns with offshore man- ufacturing, but the marketplace is too massive to ignore and a strong incentive for U.S. OEMs to not work against those interests. If manu- facturing circuit boards in America was ever about just keeping your head down and doing the work, to be successful in the modern age requires a plan. Fortunately, U.S. manufacturers have not given up on U.S. manufacturing. Within the U.S. electronics supply chain are companies that are pivoting, standing up new products and services, and developing technologies that will enable state-of-the-art manufacturing that keeps up with the best Asia has to offer. We see this today like never in the past as these com- panies are striving and obtaining their own lev- el of operational excellence. We are also seeing new associations, organizations, and working groups forming to take on the challenges that are holding electronics manufacturing back from achieving greatness. Our journey to achieve operational excel- lence is far from over. On the contrary we feel we are .just scratching the surface in beoming the company we could be when we achieve excellence in our on-going endeav- ors. We know that a written strategic plan that can be shared with everyone within your company is a big step in the right direction, that diverse leadership styles are necessary to find the path forward and ensure that you're staying on track, that the sometimes-counter- intuitive principles of world class manufactur- ing provide solutions to real-world problems, and that operational excellence is strived to- ward but never truly obtained. It's a journey not a destination. Johnson: is has been a great conversation! ank you. Brassard: ank you for the opportunity to share a few thoughts. PCB007 Our plan is to pivot, build partnerships, and offer the most advanced design, layout, engineer- ing, and manufacturing solutions to ensure the company is sustainable for the next 50 years.